


Where He Lay Down

by happinesssdeceit (crescenttwins)



Series: Last Words Soulmate AU [10]
Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Gen, Lucid Dreaming, Mythology mention, Soulmarks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-24
Updated: 2015-06-24
Packaged: 2018-04-05 22:33:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4197534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crescenttwins/pseuds/happinesssdeceit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaneki shares a dream with Hide. (But he doesn't realize it until it's nearly over.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where He Lay Down

**Author's Note:**

> A response to the Anon ask: " i wonder if Kaneki sometimes allucibates or dreams with Hide ?" 
> 
> This one stumped me for ages, so I hope that you enjoy!
> 
> Title is from:  
> “A dream, all a dream, that ends in nothing, and leaves the sleeper where he lay down, but I wish you to know that you inspired it.” ― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Kaneki opens his eyes into the sea, water rushing around him and into his mouth and nose.  He kicks upward, carving a transient path to the surface. Then, abruptly, the water ends and he gasps, inhaling sharply.  Kaneki treads the dark water, takes in the scatter of stars and pale gleam of the moon against the night sky.  There isn’t anything here, he thinks, watches the waves ripple and catch light.  

Kaneki floats, lets the water pull him along. It’s easy to let himself drift here; no one needs him, here.  So for a moment, he lets himself breathe.

It’s bizarre, this sea. There are no fish in the water, no garbage or drifting objects to disturb its waters.  It is almost as if Kaneki is alone, in the great water, isolated and free.  And he isn’t sure how he knows the water is barren, isn’t sure how he knows nothing lives in the depths below him.  But he’s certain of it.

Kaneki twists upright, stares into the darkness, and picks a direction.  

He swims.

He swims for an eternity, arms and legs propelling him into the endless distance; fatigue lingers in his limbs only when he thinks he should be tired.  It is strange, Kaneki thinks, but the further he travels the _lighter_ he feels-- as though he is being drawn towards something, the only other in this world.

Time passes, and Kaneki would stop but the feeling grows the more he moves, like he is about to reach the place he belongs.

And then he hears it, the sound of water crashing against something solid. He swims closer to the sound, eyes picking up a figure sitting above the water, balanced atop an enormous rock.  A lone rock, Kaneki thinks, a bizarre form rising from the water.

But he would recognize that figure anywhere, doesn’t need the moonlight to trace the curve of a cheek and a splash of bright hair to know it’s Hide, and he pulls himself onto the base of the rock at the thought.  His feet slip on the wet stone for the barest moment, but Kaneki has had his feet swept out from under him too many times to count; it is easy to him to catch his balance.

And then, abruptly, he is within reach of Hide, could have grazed his back with the tips of his fingers if he stretched.  

So he does, body following the thought, and notices too late that Hide has a fish’s tail in place of his legs, and the other male yelps and falls backward onto him.  

Stepping forward, Kaneki catches him, holds him as Hide cranes his neck.

“Ah,” Hide says when they finally make eye contact. “I wondered who would come out all this way.” His eyes are dark, catching the light at only the barest of moments.

Kaneki helps Hide into a more comfortable seating position. When he glances around to find another place to sit, Hide snorts and pulls him down next to him, sharing the strangely flat surface.  

“Hey, Kaneki,” Hide says, lacing his fingers behind his head, “What are you doing here?” His voice is light, deceptive for the weight it carries.

Kaneki wishes he could answer. “I don’t know.”

Hide laughs.

“Something,” Kaneki says, “made me come here, so I did.” He shrugs, lets his eyes travel over Hide’s face and shoulders, down his torso.  Hide is thinner than he remembers, cheeks in sharp relief against longer hair.  His friend is wearing a thin white shirt, clinging to his waist in an overly familiar way.  If Kaneki squints he could probably make out the whorls that make up Hide’s soulmark.  He glances at his own shoulder, self-conscious, but his own words are still wrapped by black fabric.  “Why do you have a fish tail?”

Hide flicks the end of the tail at Kaneki, a thin arc of water following the movement. “Beats me,” he says, “before you arrived I thought I might be destined to doom a sailor’s ship or something, like in the old tales.” In the moonlight, Hide’s tail looks blue, shining almost like a kagune, and if this were real, maybe this would be the moment he told Hide he was a ghoul.

But this isn’t real, and perhaps-- perhaps that is what stays his tongue.  Kaneki keeps the confession tucked close to his chest, because he will tell Hide before any apparition of his mind’s own making.  

“But your singing voice is awful,” he returns instead, swallowing the words that would break this steady peace.

“Oi,” Hide says, sounding very nearly offended, “Maybe that’s the part of the tale that was left out, huh? That sailors crashed their ships because of an awful racket as opposed to a sweet serenade.” He’s staring out into the sky, tracing shapes with his fingertip.  

“That would be an awful way to die,” Kaneki comments.

“It really would be,” his friend agrees, waving his tail like children kick out their legs.  “But at least they would have a story to tell.”

Kaneki looks into the sky, trying to find what shapes Hide can pull out of the tapestry of stars.  But it’s not easy, these stars unfamiliar.

“We never could see the stars well in Tokyo,” Hide comments. “It’s nice to see them out like this.”

“Do you recognize any constellations?” Kaneki asks, if only to hear Hide speak longer.  This apparition won’t recognize any-- Kaneki doesn’t recognize any, after all.

“Hm,” Hide says, narrowing his eyes in thought.

Kaneki shrugs. “Well, that’s only to be--”

“I think that one is Cygnus,” Hide says, tracing out a cross in the sky.

Kaneki’s jerks forward, eyes searching Hide’s face, swallowing his features again.  “...H--Hide?”

Hide looks back at him, smiles oddly. “Yeah, Kaneki?”

“What do you know about it?”

“Well,” Hide says, staring at the sky again. “I forget the story-- but it was sad, I think. Most of the stories about the stars are sad.”

He reaches out, grasps a shoulder, pulling Hide into the curve of his torso. It’s an awkward embrace, but Kaneki welcomes his friend’s weight, the proof of his existence.  

Hide makes a noise, turning in his embrace, and they--

They overbalance, slipping off of the rock. And Kaneki can’t help but make a sound of distress, pulling closer to Hide as though it would bring them closer in reality, and he sees the flash of a smile before--

Kaneki jerks awake in his bed, head fuzzy and his limbs aching. His soulmark is tingling, and he rubs at it absently.

Sunlight filters into the room through an uncovered window, and Kaneki spares the barest glance for his clock before pulling himself from the last dregs of sleep.  He straightens the pillows and blankets on his bed, goes to the restroom to brush his teeth and wash his face.

He slides on training clothing, lets it settle over his still sensitive soulmark carefully before making his way out of his room.

“You seem happy today,” he hears as he starts stretching, “Have a good dream?”

“I don’t quite remember,” Kaneki says, a smile drifting over his features, “but I think it was.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Hide slides into consciousness as his head hits the water, and it takes him a moment to realize he’s not drowning; it’s only the moisture in his eyelashes causing them to stick together. But his soulmark aches, and he curls around it, lingering in bed and the feeling of Kaneki’s embrace.

_What a forlorn dream_ , he thinks, and wills it to vanish from his mind.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading/commenting/kudos! I really appreciate all of your support.
> 
> And a cookie for anyone who can figure out why I picked Cygnus for the constellation that Hide could identify! (◕‿-)


End file.
